Triple-Chaser

In Triple-Chaser, FA presents the use of machine learning, synthetic image generation, and photo-realistic modelling to detect tear gas canisters manufactured by a company named Safariland, a name that itself suggests the colonial imagination at the heart of this enterprise. Upon realizing that Safariland is owned by Warren B. Kanders—vice chair of the board of trustees of the Whitney Museum of American Art—FA responded to the museum’s invitation to the 2019 Whitney Biennial and presented an installation in which images shared online by activists and protesters are collected and interpreted via ‘computer vision’ classifiers to detect the use of Safariland tear gas against immigrants and non-violent protesters. Linking Safariland to actions against civil society and social movements, this research also exposed Kanders’ connection to the brutal violence committed by Israeli military snipers against Palestinians in Gaza through the US bullet manufacturer Sierra Bullets. Kanders was forced to resign from the museum’s board of directors, due in part to the projection of this film at the Whitney Museum.

25 January - 2 April 2020, A.M. Qattan Foundation, Ramallah. Exhibition with public seminars and workshops of FA members with human-rights and legal groups in Palestine. Co-curated by Yazid Anani and Shourideh C. Molavi.